The Arizona Keystone Scientia Co ronati Research Lodge #4 F. & a. m. Newsletter oct – dec 2010 A.L. 6010
Volume 3, Issue 4
SPIRITUALITY &
INITIATION
The Arizona Keystone Volume 3, Number 4 Oct - Dec 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Weil, Master MANAGING EDITOR Keith Rosewitz, Secretary The Arizona Keystone is an official publication of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quarterly. Unless otherwise noted, articles appearing in this publication express only the private opinion or assertions of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Arizona.
CONTENTS FEATURES 3. MASTER’S NOTES 4. PEN AND PAPER
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Master’s Notes My Brothers, Spirituality and Initiation are two elements that seem to go hand in hand when talking about ancient Rites. The Craft is a culture housed in the Temple of the Mysteries. The true Masonic Lodge is a Mystery School, a place where initiates are taken out of the mundane world and given instruction in the mysteries of life. Three steps or degrees lead up to the temple doors, and all who wish to enter, must climb them to reach a certain level of knowledge. Every Mason must guard these gates from the profane and ignorant. It is our responsibility that this knowledge, this philosophy, this culture be not given to selfish people unprepared for their responsibility. In order to protect this ancient and honorable fraternity, obstacles have been placed in the way of its attainment which only the sincere and honorable are strong enough to recognize and overcome. There are many grades of initiates, and no matter how far a seeker may pass on the pathway of understanding there is always something more for him to accomplish. The mere fact that an initiate has been accepted by our Craft does not mean that the student has become all wise or a Mason. He merely sees life with slightly broadened vision, but still subject to the laws of Nature. The initiate must understand that the rapidity of his advancement depends wholly upon his own merits—the sincerity, integrity, and devotion of his labors and how completely he has mastered the temperaments and failings, which hold him back.
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PEN AND PAPER Initiation Michael Baigent Explores Its Meaning Freemasonry is based upon initiation. Yet many of us remain unclear as to what exactly this means. Is it simply an old term for joining something? Or are there depths of meaning behind the word that can tell us something of our Masonic heritage? Most ancient cultures had some tradition which sought to show men and women the world beyond the veil of death: the ‘Far World’ as the Egyptians put it. Shamans and ‘medicine men’ had long understood the need to teach of life and death and at some time in our past this was organized into distinctive cults. In the ancient Greek and Roman world this teaching was communicated in what were called the ‘Mysteries’ – the initia - such as practiced at Delphi and Eleusis. Importantly for social stability, these Mysteries ran concurrently with the state worship of the gods and goddesses but they remained secret while the state cult was public. The Mysteries existed for those who wished to be initiated into the source of the sacred; those who wished to experience it, directly. But the rites performed were kept clandestine; those who entered were forbidden to reveal any details. Yet some did, at least partially. One of the classic accounts is from the second century AD Roman writer and lawyer, Apuleius, author of Metamorphoses – also known as The Golden Ass – who lived in Carthage. Apuleius was initiated into the rites and mysteries of the goddess Isis. But his description is deliberately enigmatic. His account begins with a priest warning him that ‘the act of initiation [is] performed in the manner of voluntary death and salvation...’ Then, following ten days of preparation during which Apuleius avoided alcohol and meat, he was taken into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple of Isis where, the same night, he had a profound sacred experience. ‘Listen and understand’, he asks the reader, ‘Believe what I am saying is truth!’ He then explains, ‘I approached the very edge of death and stood upon Proserpine’s doorstep... In the middle of the night I saw the sun, a bright shining and glittering light; I entered the presence of the gods...’ Then he abruptly stops and rather disconcertingly states that even though he has described what happened to him that night it is unlikely that the reader will understand him. And he is correct. Nevertheless, in his veiling of the events he is following the precepts of the initiatory tradition: ‘Man, know thyself. Nothing in excess. Remember to keep silent.’ All we can be sure of is that in his experience initiation is linked with death. This is proved by both his first line and by his reference to ‘Proserpine’s doorstep’. Proserpine, known to the Greeks as Persephone, was the wife of Pluto, king of the underworld. Her doorstep is the entrance to the world of the dead. 4
At the point of death, the writer explains, the soul ‘has the same experience as those who are being initiated into great mysteries.’ In fact, the connection between initiation and death is implicit in the Greek language itself: telos means ‘end’ or ‘perfection’. Its plural, telea is the usual term for initiation. In other words, such rites involve perfection as well as termination or death. The Greek playwright Aristophanes in The Frogs depicts Hercules describing his visit to the ‘Far-World’ and witnessing great feasts of the ‘Blest’. Hercules is asked who these people are. He replies that the ‘Blest’ are ‘The Holy Ones who understand the mysteries’; meaning, it is evident, those who have been initiated. For the ancients, like the Greeks and the Egyptians as well as the influential shamanic cultures further east and north, initiation lay at the very heart of their culture’s spiritual life. Initiation is experience, an experience which brings insight and knowledge. That it is not a purely intellectual exercise but one which also involves the heart risks being forgotten today as we increasingly find ourselves worshipping the intellect. And, I would argue, we are the poorer for it.
Freemasonry and the Mysteries We cannot point to any proof that Freemasonry has directly maintained any ancient initiatory practices but neither is there any evidence to suggest that Freemasonry’s spiritual depths were constructed along with the first Grand Lodge in the early eighteenth century. There are some very suggestive facts we should note: for example, the early fifteenth century Cooke manuscript of Old Charges invokes ‘Hermes the Philosopher’. This figure, deliberately distinguished from the Greek god Hermes or the Roman god Mercury, is clearly that mysterious figure of antiquity, Hermes Trismegistus, guide to the world of the dead, the ‘Far-World’. He derives from the Ibis-headed Egyptian god Djeuty, known later to the Greeks as Thoth. Furthermore, aspects of Masonic ritual appear to retain fragments or parallel practices to those of the ancients. In the Mysteries of Mithras, for example, the candidate climbs a ladder with seven rungs, a ladder not unknown to Freemasons. Apuleius’ initiation took three days as did the mystical rites of the Mysteries at Eleusis. Each of the three degrees of Freemasonry is a symbolic day; each is opened at sunrise in the east and closed with sunset in the west. We see here too a mysterious parallel with the Christian days of Easter, a rite celebrating the conquest of death. It seems to me that while much Masonic ritual was indeed constructed late in its history, a powerful inheritance passed through those great medieval building masters; a heritage which, despite falling into the hands of those who no longer fully recognized its importance, has shone through and survived - however distant its echo now may be. But along the way, because of a lack of understanding, much of the power of our rituals has been lost. Rituals need to be read, certainly, but primarily they need to be experienced; their words and actions are only a means to an end. In his exhortation to the candidate in the third degree the Master states that following contemplation of the twists and turns of life, 'Nature' prepares you for your end by teaching 'you how to die'. And following the subsequent confrontation with death the Master makes pointed reference to 'knowledge of yourself' and to that spark of immortality which resides within. Is this just an echo or could it be a true fragment from the Mysteries? In the end, whatever its source, Masonic ritual deals with the same great subject that initiation has always involved: the fullness and breadth of the human spirit. (Reprinted by permission of Freemasonry Today. Spring 2010—Issue 52.)
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Preparing the Candidate The most curious custom perhaps had to do with what might be termed the complete preparation of the candidate against the influences that had affected his previous career. During the multitude of centuries in the course of which astrology was thought to play the strongest part in human affairs, every circumstance affecting the welfare of humanity was deemed to have its rise in one or another of the planets, or perhaps in a lucky or evil combination of several. The science of medicine rose entirely from this curious belief in planetary affinities. The ancient physician diagnosed his patient's malady according to the diseases listed under the latter's unlucky stars and tried to cure it by application of substances designated as governed by those planets favorable to him. The same idea governed the individual with reference to articles carried upon his person. The superstitious carried various charms and amulets intended to draw favorable planetary influences to his aid, and were just as careful to avoid substance that might produce a contrary effect. In the ordering of the candidate for initiation into the ancient mysteries this belief played an important part. The candidate might carry upon his person nothing that would invite the attention of occult planetary powers through the mysterious tie that bound them to terrestrial objects.
The Candidate Must First Be Prepared in his Heart As a man thinketh, so is he; but as he purposes in his heart, so will his life be. The heart is the center of man's affections and desires. If he is clean within, his life will reflect that condition - but the reverse is also true. We are concerned with the building of character. Working toward this goal must begin within the heart; for, if your heart is not ready, we cannot expect to make an impression on your mind. Therefore, each candidate, who comes seeking light, must be prepared in his heart.
Duly And Truly Prepared Being duly and truly prepared refers to the wearing of special garments furnished by the Lodge to emphasize our concern with man's internal qualifications, rather that his worldly wealth and honors. By wearing the garments of humility, the candidate signifies the sincerity of his intentions.
Metallic Tokens (Anything of a Mineral or Metallic Substance) The lists of plants, flowers, minerals, metals, and other things that were subject to these mysterious influences were long and complicated. Gold linked him with the sun which incited to the besetting sin of intellectual pride; silver drew upon him the fickle qualities of the moon; copper, sacred to Venus, provoked lust, and iron, the metal of Mars, quarrelsomeness; tin, tyranny and oppression, the qualities of Jupiter; lead, sloth and indolence, belonging to Saturn; while mercury or quicksilver was responsible for dishonesty and covetousness. Therefore a key or a coin, and above all a sword, was likely to bring confusion upon the whole mysterious operation of regeneration. Above all were enjoined upon the candidate the three sacred virtues, which by the Jain sects in India are still called "the three jewels," represented by three circles, "right belief," "right knowledge," and "right conduct." In order to reach the spiritual plane, in which the soul is entirely freed from the bonds of matter, these were the chief necessities, and the person who clung to them would certainly go higher until he reached the state of liberation.
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